Re: Press Release-- Walk Against WASL

[donna gastin <velikathevamp2@yahoo.com>]

tsaum@hickorytech.net wrote:  Juanita,
It's always so good to hear about these activist things you are still doing. Bless 
your heart for keeping on with the fight.
How many years has it been since we met for lunch in Mankato?
Teresa Saum

On Thu Mar 9 10:08 , Jedoyon@aol.com sent:

>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>PRESS RELEASE
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
>
> 
>Date: March 9, 2006
>
>Parent Empowerment Network 
>organizes 5th Annual WALK AGAINST WASL
> 
>Contacts: Juanita Doyon, 
>Director, Mothers Against WASL, Spanaway, 253/973-1593
>   Rachel DeBellis, Executive Board 
>Member, Marysville, 
>360/708-9323
>                
>Lisa Sampson, Executive Board Member, Vancouver, 360/608-4896 
>
>   Shelley Anderson, Area 
>Coordinator, Spokane, 509/326-9295
>
>Parent Empowerment Network/Mothers Against 
>WASL will hold its 5th Annual, Mothers and Others Walk Against WASL, 
>Monday, March 13th, in Olympia. Protesters will meet on the steps 
>of the Capitol at 10:30 am and march to the Office of 
>Superintendent of Public Instruction.
> 
>â??WASL has had its 
>chance to abuse our students, teachers and schools for too long. It has taken 
>the profession out of teaching, drained the joy out of learning, and sapped 
>hundreds of millions of our precious education dollars. It has done all of this 
>without ever having been proven valid or reliable by anyone independent of its 
>creators,â?? said Juanita Doyon, director of Parent Empowerment Network. 
â??Despite 
>much debate, the legislature has failed to pass legislation that will save this 
>yearâ??s 10th graders from being guinea pigs for this graduation 
>requirement folly. Even the bill approving WASL alternatives demeans students, 
>who must fail the WASL twice before being offered an alternative assessment. 
>These alternatives still fail to meet the needs of students with learning 
>disabilities and students who are not proficient English 
>speakers.â??
> 
>Main 
>concerns:
> 
>Discriminationâ??WASL pass rates are 
>much lower for low income, minority, and special needs students.  This alone poses 
a great risk for these 
>students, as WASL becomes a graduation requirement. Without the guarantee of 
>statewide, uniform services to students in all grades, a statewide uniform 
>achievement bar (WASL) is morally and legally 
>indefensible.
> 
>Inappropriate and 
>subjective testingâ??WASL has been proven 
>to be inappropriate to grade level.  
>The test requires a state-mandated thought process and tests how students 
>think rather than what they know.
> 
>Costâ??WASL costs $72 per 
>student to administer. Iowa Test of Basic Skills costs 
>$2.99.
> 
>Use of WASL for class 
>placement and graduationâ??No one test should 
>determine a studentâ??s future.  WASL 
>scores are currently used to determine placement in remedial classes, denying 
>students the opportunity to pursue enrichment subjects such as art and 
>music.  This yearâ??s 10th 
>graders are currently required to pass the WASL in order to receive their high 
>school diploma. 
> 
>Use of WASL to 
>determine curriculaâ??Because WASL is being 
>used to determine school and student success and failure, districts are adopting 
>curricula to align with WASL requirements. This is not an appropriate 
>educational practice. Curricula should be adopted to align with student and 
>community needs, not the narrow goal of test passage.
> 
>Parent Empowerment Network 
>(PEN) is a nonprofit organization. The mission of PEN is to provide education and 
peer 
>training to parents, teachers, and community members at-large, in developing 
>strategies to promote sound policy for quality public schools.  
> 
> 


I'd like to know if this is a precursor to something more insidious. I am wondering could anyone do some checking in the archives, say around 1930's and40's Germany?  And compare the programs that are implemented here and now in the US and those  that were implemented by Hitler in Nazi Germany. This should include The Mental health initiative on the todays US implemented programs list. these testing the students and other programs sounds eerily familiar. I don't think we are heading down that road again, but it sounds like it.

		
---------------------------------
Relax. Yahoo! Mail virus scanning helps detect nasty viruses!